Floor-cleaning machine.



No. 891,970. PATENTED .TUNE 80, 1908. H. ASKELI & P. PIBTILA.

FLOOR CLEANING MACHINE.

`APPLIMTION FILED JAN.29,1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Houra;

PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908. -H. ASKELI 6a P. PIETILA. K .FLOOR CLEANING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN,29,1908.

I HENRY ASKELI AND FRANK' PIETILA, OF EVERETT, WASHINGTON.

FLOOR-CLEANING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 30, 1908.

Application led January 29, 1908. Serial No. 413,233.

`To'all whom #may concern: I

Be it known that We, HENRY AsKELi and FRANK PIETILA, citizens of the United States,

' vre'sidii'ig/'at Everett, in the county of Snohoniish and State of Washington, Ahave invented new and .useful Improvements in Floor-,Cleaning Machines, of which the followingis a specification.

vOur invention pertains to the washin loi' lloors; and it has Jfor its object to provi e a simple and easily operated machine through .1

` the medium of which a floor mav be expe( tiously and thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned.

With the foregoing in mind the novelty, utility 'and practical advanta es of the invention will be fully understood rom the following description and claims when the same are read in connection with Vthe drawings, ac-

companying and forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constituting the best practical embodiment of our invention of which we are cognizant.

- Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the machine. Fig. 3 is a view partly in plan and` partly in section of the machine with the ood and its appurtenances removed and with the brush and the handle of the scraper also removed. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken the 'lane indicated by the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, with some of the parts in elevation. Fig. 5 comprises disconnected pers ective views of one of the slides and the a( jacent portion of. the brush-holderv comprised in the machine.

Similar lletters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, re-

err'ng to which:

A is the main frame of the machine, which Vis preferably rectangular in outline and is provided in its rear portion with longitudinal ars ay disposed parallel to its side bars b and joined to its rear end bar c and connected With the said side bai's through transversely dis osed portions or bars d.

lgB are longitudinal bars dis osed under vand connected with the forwar portions of the side bars of the main 'frame and arranged m combination with the said side bars to form guideways in which are arranged and movable slides C which are preferably of the form best shown in Fig. 5, and are provided with transverse apertures e.`

` These latter aref' designed to receive studs f and g on Athe frame D and the removable cross-piece E, respectively, of a brusheliolder.'

understood by reference to Fig. 2 tha-t 'thef inner side of the transverse bal` of the frame D and the inner sideof the cross-piece E areconvex in cross-section and that 'the opposed sides of the head of brush F are concave, whereby casual u ward or downward movements or' the brus in the holderv are precluded. As before stated, -the slides C are movable in the guideways formed be-l tween the bars B and the side bars of the main frame A, and hence it follows that the brush F connected with the slides in the manner described is ada ted to be reciprocated in the direction ci) the length of the machine.

For the purpose of reci rocating the brush holder and the brush inci ental to movement of the machine over a loor, Wefprovide theniechanisni illustrated in Figs. 2 Vand 3. This mechanism comprises a pitman G having a bail-shaped portion t pivoted at to ears on the transverse bar of the brush lirame, traveling wheels H equipped, by preference, with rubber tires 7c and mounted in themain frame between the longitudinally disposed bars a and b thereof, spur gears I arranged at the inner sides of the wheels H and fixed with respect to the same, a vertically swinging bail J pivoted atl to the trame bars a, a transverse shaft K journaled the side bars of the said bail and having a crank m connected to the pitinan G, and spur gears L fixed on the said shaft K and normally intermeshed with the spur gears l. ,By virtue of this construction it willbe manifest that when'the inachinev is pushed over a floor motion will be transmitted from the floor or traveling wheels H to the brush F and the latter will be rapidly and forcibly reclprocated over the floor with a view of -quie. y and thoroughly cleaning the latter.

It is desirable in some cases to move the spect to an inverted U-shaped upright s 'rio ` bail J and in that way disengage the spurr formed integral with or xed tothe side bars b of the main frame A. By moving'the said hand lever P in the vdirection indicated by arrow in Fig. 2, the operatorof the machine v isvenabled to quickly and easily raise the gears L from the spur gears I and stop the reciprocation of the brush F, and in this connection it will be noticed that when the operator releases the hand lever P the bail J and the spur gears L will gravitate to the position shown in Fig'. 2 to reestablish the driving connection between the traveling or floor wheels H and the` brush F so that the a door u for normally closing the same.

latter will be reciprocated when the machine is moved.

l S is a hood, preferably of sheet-metal, ar-

ranged over and fixed on the' mainframe A.-

T is a water tank arranged on and iiXed to the hood S and having a filling opening t and U isa transversely arranged pipe disposed slightly above the horizontal plane of the brush F and in advance of the same, and

having a plurality of minute a erturesin its under side at intervals of its ength, and V is a pipe carried by the hood S and connecting the tank T and the pipe U and having a valve W for controlling the passage of water from the tank to the pipell. With this construction it will be apparent that water may be sprayed on the iioor that is being cleaned in advance of the scrubbing brush F so as to assistin the cleaning operation.

To further assist in the cleaning operation 4we provide the scraper' X which comprises a vbody o and a strip wot elastic rubber or other material suitable to the purpose. The scraper body o is arranged and adapted to be moved vertically in guideways formed in the side bars of the frame A, and to the said body o a handle rod y is pivotally connected. The said handle rod y extends upward through a slot e in the hood and also through a slotted plate Y fixed on the hood, which plate is provided with hooks al and b for the engagement of a lateral projection c on the handle rod. By virtue of this construction it will be scen that' the scraper may be readily raised and lowered, and that by engaging the lateral projection cv on the handle rod y with the hook a the scraper may be maintained in its raised and idle position, while by moving the scraper downward and engaging the lateral projection c with the hook b, the scraper may be secured in its working position and against casual upward movement.

In this connection it will be noticed that'in Fig l the scraper is shown as secured in its depressed and working position and that in Fig.'2 the scraper is shown as fastened in its raised and idle position.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that through the medium o'l our novel'fmachine a i'loor maybe quickly and thoroughlyscrubbed, washed and cleaned, and this with but a minimum amount of eiiorty on the part ot the person moving the machine; and it will also be appreciated that the machine is simple and inexpensive in construction and yet well adapted to withstand the rough usage to which machines of corresponding lcharacter are ordinarily subjected. Y

As stated in the foregoing the construction herein illustrated and described constitutes the best embodiment of our invention known to us, but it is obvious that in the future ractice of the invention such changes in the orm, construction, and relative arrangement ofv parts may be made as fairly fall within the scope ot our invention as defined in the claims appended.'

Having described our invention, what we 'claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent,

is: c

l. In a machine for the u'rpose described, the combination oi a whee nsupported frame having longitudinal guideways, slides movable in said guideways, a brush holder connected to and movable with the slides, a gear rotatable with the'frame supporting wheels, a bail pivotally connected with the frame, means for raising said bail, a crank-shaft journaled in the bail and having a gear normally engaged with the irst mentioned gear, and a pitman' connecting the brush holder with the crank-shaft.

2. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of a Jframe having side bars and also having longitudinally disposed bars arranged between the rear portions of the side bars and iixed with respect thereto, traveling wheels mounted between the side bars and the other longitudinal bars of the trame and provided with spur gears, longitudinally movable slides guided'in the frame, a vbrush holder connected with and carried by said slides, 'a bail pivoted to the inner longitudinal bars of the frame, means for raising the said bail, a shaft journaled inthe bail and having a crank and also having spur gears interineshed with the first mentioned spur gears, and a pitman connecting the brush holder and the crank of theshatt.

3. ln a machine Jfor the purpose described, the combination of a frame having vertical guideways, a hood arranged on theframe and having an inclined ortion in which is a slot extending in the direction ot thev incline, oppositely disposed hooks on the inclined portion of the hood at,the upper and lower ends of the slot, a scraper movable vertically in said guideways of the frame, and a handle set our hands in presence of two. subscribing through the slot in the ood and havin a projection to be placed in engagement with one of the said hooks when the rod is in its -rod pivoted to the sera er and extending Witnesses.

HENRY. ASKEI'JI.

- FRANK` PIETILA.

Witnesses:

TOM LINDALL, B. E. PADGETT 

